Dental floss. If you’re a patient at my Columbia dental practice, we know for sure that you have it in your medicine cabinet for use during routine, at-home dental hygiene. But did you know that it might be a good idea to keep some rolls in other rooms of the house as well? You might even want to keep it in your glove compartment!

Why? Because floss has to be strong and flexible enough to fit in between your teeth without breaking, and it’s strong and flexible enough to perform all kinds of other tasks that string or thread might not be capable of handling.

Of course we have our own favorite uses for dental floss, but we have also scoured the internet for creative and handy tips for even more uses. Here are a few of our favorites:

Protect your walls: Use it instead of wire to hang pictures. Dental floss will not scratch or scrape paint the way wire does.
Support delicate plants: Floss is strong and slightly stretchy, making it the ideal way to tie your plants and vines to a supportive wooden dowel.
Use it as an emergency shoelace: Again because of its flexibility and strength, dental floss can handily replace a broken shoelace
Reattach a button: Another great emergency use of floss when no thread is available.
Make a camping clothesline: It’s actually strong enough to hold several bathing suits and t-shirts!
Lift cookies from a tray: Many spatulas are too thick to get under a stuck cookie without crumbing it. Dental floss is thin and flexible and easily slides under cookie to loosen them. Try lifting a whole row!

We'd love to hear other uses you might have for this amazing string. Tell us at your next appointment! Speaking of which: Is it time to schedule a hygiene appointment at my dental practice in Columbia? You know we'll supply you with a new roll of handy floss!

Welcoming patients from Columbia, Elgin, and Lugoff.